No Mercy (2 page)

Wordlessly, I said a thank you when I pulled in behind Luke’s car.  The guy I’ve known my whole life and could count on was leaning on the car wide eyed as the truck behind me stopped and the driver jumped out.  Luke took steps towards my car and I was grateful the guy had my back.  But I could handle myself in a fight.  And I knew the guy would be able to make sure things didn’t get out of hand.

Calmly, I opened my car door.  Before I did, I already had a plan.  That had been decided once I realized who followed me home.

“Brody,” I said, eyeing the guy face to face, toe to toe.  Built like a tanker truck, the dude was tall as he was broad.  I didn’t doubt for a second he packed a powerful punch. He was as tough as he was on the field.  The local newspapers had referred to him as the next great thing to come from our town as evidenced by heavy college recruitment. But more than that, Brody was a likeable guy.  I didn’t relish the idea of what was coming next.

Seething, Brody said, “You asshole.”  I didn’t even flinch at the guy's words.  In fact I expected more.  Much more.  “You slept with my baby sister, then dumped her.”

Okay, that’s more like what I anticipated with this conversation.  At least he’d gotten to the point. But his views on things were quite skewed.  Shelli had made the first move.  Hell, I actually had almost no choice in the matter. 

About two months ago at lunch with the days warming again, I was sitting out on the quad with all the guys.  Shelli walked up leaving her friend tens paces behind her and called me out in front of everyone.  And what was I supposed to do when she laid down a challenge in front of the guys.

“I heard you and Lindsey broke up,” she’d said.  Her hands were firmly on her hips. Her shoulder length glossy black hair swung a little in her stance framing her pretty face.  She wore a sexy school girl outfit down to the red and black plaid short shirt.  The guys snickered after she spoke the first line.  She’d known exactly was she was doing.

“Yeah, and,” I answered.  I’d eyed her black top with cleavage showing certain she’d conveniently left several buttons undone to tantalize me. It worked. I barely noticed the red sweater hanging over her shoulder.  Moving my gaze down her slim figure, black stocking reached just above her knees leaving a little of her creamy skin showing.  I never saw her shoes.  Her voice brought my gaze back to her face.

What she said next shocked the shit out of me.  I knew then I was out of options.  “Today’s my birthday,” she’d begun. “And I want you for my present.”   I’d gotten some wild propositions in the past from many shameless mothers.  But this was a first.  With my mouth slightly parted in shock, a challenge was made that I couldn’t back down on.  The guys were already cheering me on and clapping me on the back.

Speechless, I just nodded. “After school then,” she’d said ending the one sided conversation.  I watched her walk away knowing this wouldn’t be good.  The guys were speaking amongst themselves and I’d felt boxed in.  That day she may have looked all experienced, but all my instincts had warned me otherwise.  There was no way around it though.  If I didn’t leave school with her, I’d lose face with all the guys, all except Luke of course.  And if I did, I knew I would regret it.

“Flynn,” Brody called out.  My name brought me back to the present.  There would be no explaining to Brody what happened even though there had been many witnesses to that day.  Thus, I let Brody do what came next.  Turning to face the guy, all I saw next were painful stars when Brody’s knuckles connected with my jaw.  Head snapping to the side, I was still steady on my feet only because I’d known it was coming.

Shit, my face hurt like a son of a bitch. I rubbed at my jaw and should have kept my mouth shut.  But that was not to be. “That was your free pass,” I said. “Now go the fuck home and tell your sister to keep her legs closed next time.”

Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to say.  But my jaw hurt and anger had flared within me because I had to hold back from hitting the guy.  “You son of a bitch,” Brody said, lunging towards me with another right jab.  I was ready for him and easily caught his fist that might have connected with only a few more inches to spare. 

Brody wasn’t a slouch and immediately followed through with a left uppercut.  Easily, I caught that one too.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luke stepping closer.  Shaking my head a little, I let Luke know I didn’t need any help.  On the surface, the guy may have been bigger, but my demon half made me stronger. 

More movement had me focused on my attacker.  Brody was about to try to use his right leg in some way because the guy shifted his balance.  This was the moment where I had to make a decision.  Which of my crown jewels would I save?  In the end, I figured my face would hurt less.  Consequently, I let go of Brody’s left hand and pivoted to miss another blow to the face. Grabbing the guy’s knee, I forced him to the ground.  Unfortunately, I’d twisted Brody’s leg with more force than I’d meant to and heard the unsatisfying pop.

Pain made anger die from Brody’s face. Now he looked more vulnerable than anything else.  “Shit, man, I think you broke my leg,” Brody cried out. The twisted look the guy gave, reminded me of something that had guilt crushing me.

Taking a step back, I scrubbed my hands over my face.  This wasn’t good.  Brody was the family’s way out according to Shelli.  His scholarship playing football was his only ticket to USC.  Their family counted on Brody one day signing an NFL contract.  When Shelli had shared that with me a while back, I’d wanted to let her know that the likelihood of him making it in the big leagues was slim to none.  But I’d kept quiet on that point.  Who was I to state the obvious?  It wasn’t my place to shatter anyone’s dream.

 Stepping around to the guy gasping and clutching at his leg, I said, “Sorry,” right before I kicked the guy in the head knocking him out.  It wasn’t my shining moment.  But punching him would have required me to kneel down.  That just seemed worst to look the guy straight in the eye before sucker punching him. 

“What the hell, Flynn?” Luke asked, coming over to me.

Brody was out cold splayed out on the front driveway only three feet from where I’d stepped out of the car. “You need to heal him and he wasn’t going to let you near him.”

Luke’s expression was priceless.  It almost made me laugh.  I was sure he hadn’t expected me to say that.  I thought about Shelli and I’d hurt her enough.  I wasn’t going to be the one to destroy the family’s hopes and Brody’s chance to leave this town.  “You know he’s got that scholarship and almost lost it when he was hurt this season.  Shit, I had to throw an interception just to get put back on the bench so Coach would play him again in time for the recruiters.”

Nodding, Luke bent down and laid his hands on the guy’s leg.  I stepped back to let my friend do his thing and rubbed at my jaw again.  Damn that guy could hit.  While working my jaw back and forth, Luke finished and stood.  “I fixed his leg although I left enough so he would ache for a day or so with no lasting damage,” Luke said.

I raised an eyebrow.  “Yeah, good,” I said because Brody would remember the fight.

Luke frowned, “You better go in so the guy can save face and leave peacefully.”

Nodding, I headed for my front door.

Chapter Two
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Flynn

I heard the truck drive off just seconds before Luke walked into the door.

“Did you have to kick the guy?” Luke asked incredulously.

It hadn’t been my plan, none of it was.  Maybe it was a bit harsh, but I really didn’t want to look the guy in the eye and see the truth in how he felt for his sister.  Man, I was so glad I didn’t have a sister.  I was sure that if I did, I would have to knock heads daily because she would have been a succubus, a female version of my incubus. Although technically, a cambion since she would be half human like me. I shuttered at the thought.  “It worked right?” I asked making it less a question and more of a statement.

Luke shook his head.  “I took care of any concussion you may have given him,” he said. “He was a bit confused, which is good.  But he realizes that he got his ass handed to him.”  It came in handy Luke being there because I didn’t know what I would have done otherwise.

Nodding, I wasn’t really happy about deflating Brody’s confidence.  Especially knowing I deserved everything the guy did and more for what I allowed to happen in the relationship with his sister.  Hell, I tried to do right by her by making her my girlfriend de jour after that night.  I knew I could never be what she wanted, but that was the best I had to offer.

“You wouldn’t believe after all that, he invited us to the senior party at his house tonight,” Luke said, walking to the kitchen.

My eyes brightened.  There were a lot of rumors about what went on at those.  Despite my better judgment, I kind of wanted to go.

“I know what you’re thinking and we are not going,” Luke said when he turned around to look at me.

I’d been to lots of parties but not the senior exclusive ones for the elite crowd.  “Fine, I have a better idea,” I said.  Really, I already had plans.  I just hadn’t told the guy yet.  He wasn’t going to like it.

With Luke’s eyes closing slightly, I knew my friend and figured the compromise wasn’t going to be better than going to the party at least not for him.  With one word, I thought I might get Luke to change his mind about the party. “Adriana,” I said with finality.

Adriana was a girl I’d met last summer while staying at Luke’s house in the Hamptons.  Brent had a family get together and invited us over since they were in town too.  She’d been there and one thing led to another.  But Adriana wasn’t the problem.

The door to the refrigerator was open.  Luke eyed me from around the handle when I’d spoken.  Now my friend’s position changed and I knew that Luke’s hand went from grabbing a Coke to getting a beer.  I only sighed.  Feeling the frown that was growing on my face I said, “You know my dad is going to see that missing.”

Luke laughed.  “Is this your idea of an intervention? Because you know your dad knows we drink.”

“No, he knows you drink,” I said trying to make it a point that that the guy drank far more than I did.

“Don’t get all self righteous on me now.  You drink. Anyway, it’s my choice,” he muttered.

I anticipated that Luke wouldn’t be happy at the prospect of spending time with Adriana’s sister, Adelina despite her beauty.  I just hadn’t expected to drive him to drink.  No, something else was going on.  Luke had been waiting for me when I came home.  He must not have gone home after school. “Is your Dad at your house?” I asked.

Luke had the top off and downed half the bottle before he replied. “Yeah, the bastard is there.  And my mom is like waiting on the guy hand and foot.  He’s got another wife, yet she still treats him like god’s gift to mankind.”

“He kind of is, isn’t he?” I asked thinking about the facts.  The churning in Luke’s eyes said I should have kept that comment to myself.  Hell, the guy’s dad was an angel, an Arch Angel.

Luke finished the beer and slammed it down on the counter.  I was surprised that the bottle hadn’t shattered by the force of it.  “I don’t need this shit from you,” Luke said spinning on his heels headed for the door.

“Hey man, you know I didn’t mean it,” I said, following after him trying to think of something to fix this.  The guy had just saved my ass and here I went giving him shit about a sore subject.  “You wouldn’t believe what happened to me after school.”  I hoped the statement would work and spark the guy’s curiosity so he wouldn’t leave.  Later, much later, I would coax out whatever was bothering my best friend.

Friendship or curiosity made Luke stop his forward progress and have him turn back to me.  I gestured for the guy to follow me back in the kitchen and grabbed a beer for myself.  Not really in the mood for it, I nursed the drink with barely a sip.  I thought having it might negate the damage I’d done with my earlier words.  Getting to the point, I told him the story of my encounter with Amanda.

“I have a feeling that Amanda isn’t going to let me fool around.  Something tells me she has my number,” I said, finishing my tale.

There was delight in Luke’s eyes, mischief maybe.  “Amanda is quite skilled,” he said, knowingly.  With a sigh, I closed my eyes because the guy didn’t have to say more.  Those two had to have been more than friendly at some point.  Certainly this was never anything a guy wants to hear about a girl he was dating.

Cursing under my breath, I was still sure Luke had heard. The guy chuckled and I knew he was enjoying this. “Spill,” I said, pissed.  He was my best friend.  Our respective conquests had been shared between us.  Why was I only now hearing about this?

You could hear the hum of the refrigerator while I waited for the guy to tell me a story that may make me regret this new partnership with Amanda.  “Are you going to tell me or what?” I asked, out of frustration.

Luke made a move to the refrigerator again undoubtedly to get another beer. We locked eyes and I hoped I conveyed my contempt for my friend at the moment.  The guy only laughed again before finally speaking.  “This has to be a first for you and me,” he began. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a girl first that you’ve ended up with.”

Stewing in my seat a bit longer, I said nothing. “Look,” Luke said, being all serious now.  “I think you’d gone to Vegas with your dad when you came into your- you know – incubus thing,” he said gesturing with his hands. “You were still in junior high and this party kind of happened at my house.”